Glossary of Sea Turtle Terms 1
ADULT. A member of the population that has reached sexual maturity. Sea turtles may reach sexual
maturity at different sizes rather than after a certain number of years; hence, the age at sexual
maturity may be quite variable and dependent on a number of factors, such as amount and quality of
food sources.
ALVEOLAR. Pertaining to the functional, or biting, part of the jaw.
APHRODISIAC. A food, drug or other agent, sometimes made from animal parts, that arouses (or is
reputed to arouse) sexual desire or enhances sexual performance.
AQUACULTURE. The process of raising aquatic organisms in a controlled environment for
commercial purposes. See: farming and ranching.
ARRIBADA. The emergence of an aggregation of ridley turtles onto nesting beaches. Copulating pairs
congregate in large numbers followed by mass nesting of females, generally over a period of several
days. Terms such as arribazons, morrinas, and flotas are synonyms.
AXILLARY NOTCH. The notch in the front part of the shell into which the front leg fits.
BASKING. A behavior that exposes the body, or a portion of the body, to the warmth of the sun.
BEACH RENOURISHMENT. The process of replenishing sand on a beach due to loss from erosion.
Since the new sand may have characteristics (compaction, grain size, etc.) different from the natural
sand, renourished beaches may not be as attractive to nesting turtles as natural beaches.
BEAK. The horny covering of the jaws, in turtles consisting of a single plate over each jaw surface.
Also known as rhamphotheca or tomium.
BEKKO. The scutes of the hawksbill turtle used in the manufacture of various items, particularly in
jewelry. See also: tortoise shell.
BENTHIC. Describing an organism that lives in the benthos, a biogeographical region referring to the
bottom of an ocean, lake, or river.
1
Adapted from:
Dodd, C. Kenneth. 1983. A Glossary of Terms, pp. 237-248. In: Peter Bacon et al. (Editors), Proceedings of the
Western Atlantic Turtle Symposium, 17-22 July 1983. Volume 1. University of Miami Press. Miami, Florida.
Gulko, David and Karen Eckert. 2004. Sea Turtles: An Ecological Guide. Mutual Publishing, Honolulu. 123 pp.
Glossary of Sea Turtle Terms – www.widecast.org
BICUSPID. Having two cusps.
BIFURCATE. Having two branches.
BODY PIT. The depression dug by the female turtle during nesting. Body pits are characteristic of
different species and range from shallow (ridleys) to rather deep (green turtles, leatherbacks) and may
persist for months under certain conditions. The center of the body pit usually does not indicate the
location of the egg chamber.
BREEDING. The process of copulation or the physiological conditions of taking part in or being ready
to take part in the process of producing offspring. Breeding often takes place off the nesting beach,
although it is also observed along migration routes and in areas far from suitable beaches. The term
breeding is sometimes used interchangeably with “nesting” or with “mating” (i.e., copulation).
BRIDGE. The part of the shell of a turtle that connects the carapace and the plastron.
BYCATCH. Organisms caught incidentally, or by accident, during fishing operations for which the
organism is not a target. See also: incidental capture.
CALIPASH. The dorsal layer of gelatinous fat in the body and that of the flippers, generally greenish in
color. Used in making soup.
CALIPEE. The cartiladge from the ventral surface of the body, primarily from the plastron. Also used
in soup making. The word “calipee” is often used today to include calipash.
CALLOSITY. A roughened area of skin, sometimes with superficial, sculptured bone exposed or just
below the surface.
CARAPACE. A bony shield or shell covering all or part of the dorsal (top) side of an animal. The
dorsal shell of a turtle.
CARETTA CARETTA. Loggerhead sea turtle. The generic name Caretta was introduced by
Rafinesque (1814); the specific name caretta was first used by Linnaeus (1758). The name Caretta is
a latinized version of the French word “caret”, meaning turtle, tortoise, or sea turtle.
CARNIVORE. An animal that preys (feeds) on other animals; a meat-eater.
CARUNCLE. A temporary egg tooth. The horny tubercle on the snout of a baby turtle used to cut
through the eggshell.
CAUDAL. Pertaining to the tail.
CHELONIA MYDAS. Green sea turtle. The generic name Chelonia was introduced by Brongniart
(1800); the specific name mydas was first used by Linnaeus (1758).
CITES. An acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora. CITES is an international trade agreement to monitor and control trade in species listed on
its appendices. All sea turtles are listed on Appendix I, the most restrictive appendix. As such, unless
reservations are taken, commercial trade in wild specimens or products is prohibited among member
countries.
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CLOACA. The common cavity into which the intestinal, urinary, and reproductive tracts open in
reptiles and other animals; the opening through which sea turtle eggs are laid.
CLUTCH. The number of eggs produced by a turtle at one time. The number of eggs deposited in a
nest.
COMMENSAL. An organism in a symbiotic relationship with another organism in which one member
of the association (the commensal) derives an advantage and the other derives neither an advantage
nor disadvantage. Barnacles are common commensals on sea turtles.
CONSERVATION. A careful preservation and protection of something, especially with regard to
planned management of a natural resource to prevent destruction, neglect, or unwise exploitation.
COSTAL BONES. The bones of the carapace lying between the neural and the peripheral bones. The
lateral (also called pleural or costal) scutes roughly overlie these bones.
CRAWL. The tracks of a turtle on the beach. “Track” is used synonymously with crawl. See: false
crawl.
CUSP. A sharp projection, typically from the edge of the jaw.
DERMOCHELYS CORIACEA. Leatherback sea turtle. The generic name Dermochelys was
introduced by Blainville (1816). The specific name coriacea was first used by Vandelli (1761) and
adopted by Linneaus (1766).
DEVELOPMENTAL HABITAT. The place(s) where immature turtles feed and grow prior to reaching
adult size. The developmental habitat of sea turtles may or may not correspond to the adult habitat
and thus may require special conservation and management measures.
DISORIENTATION. The result of using inappropriate cues for moving in a particular direction. For
instance, hatchling sea turtles will move inland toward street lights instead of correctly toward the sea,
and are thus said to be disoriented.
DIURNAL. Occurring during the day, often in daily cycles.
DOOMED EGGS. Eggs in natural nests which are likely to be destroyed during the course of
incubation by natural, predictable causes, particularly beach erosion or extended tidal flooding.
DRIFT LINES. Elongated masses of seaweed, debris and other floating objects that often form where
ocean currents converge (meet one another). Hatchling sea turtles take refuge in drift lines.
ECTOTHERMIC. An animal, including most reptiles, whose body temperature is determined largely
by ambient (outside) temperature, as opposed to generating heat within its own body. What we used
to call “cold blooded”. With the arguable exception of the leatherback, sea turtles are ectothermic.
EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZE. The number of reproducing individuals in an ideal (i.e., Mendelian)
population. See also: population.
EGG CHAMBER. A hole dug by an adult female turtle using her rear flippers, into which she lays her
eggs.
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ELECTROPHORESIS. A technique for separating molecules based on their differential mobility in an
electric field. Each type of molecule has a specific electrical charge, a specific attraction to the
solution in which it is kept and a specific molecular weight. All of these characteristics “finger print” the
compounds in a solution so that they can be separated (here, largely on the basis of electrical charge)
from other molecules.
EMERGENCE. (a) female. The action of the female turtle leaving the water and coming onto land to
nest. (b) hatchling. The emergence of hatchlings on the beach surface above the nest cavity
(emergence occurs a variable number of hours or days after hatching from the egg).
EMERGENCE TIME: The amount of time it takes the female to leave the water and begin nesting, or
the time between hatching and the emergence of the hatchlings from the nest.
ENDANGERED. Any taxa likely to become extinct within the forseeable future if those factors
responsible for their status continue operating.
EPIBIONT. An organism living upon another organism, such as a barnacle attached to the shell of a
sea turtle.
ENZYME. A protein complex produced in living cells which, even in very low concentration, speeds up
certain chemical reactions but is not used up in the reaction. See also: protein.
ERETMOCHELYS IMBRICATA. Hawksbill sea turtle. The generic name Eretmochelys means “oar
turtle”. The specific name imbricata refers to the over-lapping nature of the carapace scutes.
EVOLUTION. See “natural selection” first. A cumulative change in the inherited characteristics of
groups of organisms which occurs in the course of successive generations related by descent.
Evolution, a process, is defined as the result of “natural selection,” and has no predetermined
endpoint. As natural selection determines the composition of a population over time, it results in a shift
of population characteristics. This shift is usually in the direction favored by the “environment” during
each contributing generation. The descendant organism may carry any degree of resemblance to its
ancestor depending upon the nature and intensity of natural selection and the span of time (or
generations) between them. In its extreme case, the descendant may bear only a very subtle
resemblance to the ancestor, or may be very similar.
EXTINCT. A species, subspecies, or population that no longer exists.
EXTINCTION. The man-induced or natural process whereby a species or subspecies ceases to exist.
May be used to describe the same process at the population or other levels.
FALSE CRAWL. The track left by a sea turtle that has ascended a beach but returned to the sea
without laying eggs.
FARMING. The practice of culturing sea turtles in a closed-cycle system for commercial purposes.
Farming does not rely on wild populations except initially, and later occasionally, to maintain genetic
diversity and avoid problems with inbreeding. In contrast, see ranching.
FERAL. Animals (typically pets or livestock) that have reverted to a wild condition after escape or
release from captivity. Feral dogs, for example, are important predators of sea turtles in many parts of
the Caribbean.
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FERTILIZATION. The fusion of two gametes of opposite sex to form a zygote.
FIBROPAPILLOMAS. Lobulated tumors that grow on the skin, eyes, in the oral cavity, and on the
viscera of sea turtles. This disease is life-threatening as these lesions can impair the turtle’s ability to
swim, eat, see, and even breathe.
FORAGING. The process of looking for food. Areas where turtles feed are referred to as foraging
habitat or foraging grounds.
GAMETE. A mature reproductive cell capable of fusing with another similar cell of the opposite sex to
produce a zygote (i.e., a sex cell).
GENE. The unit of heredity (or inheritance) located in the chromosome. Interacting with other
genes, it controls the development of hereditary characters. The gene is a small segment of the DNA
(deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule that bears the information specifying the amino acid sequence for a
particular protein or a major peptide chain (molecule made up of amino acid chains).
GENE POOL. The sum total of genes in a breeding population. See also: gene and population.
GROUND TRUTH. Correlation between aerial surveys and beach surveys on a particular section of
beach to obtain an estimate of the numbers of nests and false crawls. The numbers of nests and false
crawls from beach surveys (ground truth) are compared with the numbers from aerial surveys to gain
an index of the accuracy of aerial surveys on sections of beach where beach surveys are not possible
or too time consuming.
GULAR SCUTE. The frontmost (paired, occasionally single) scute of the plastron, except in sea turtle
species where the paired gular scutes are separated by an intergular scute.
HABITAT. The specific place in the natural environment where an animal or plant lives.
HALF-MOON TRACK. A semicircular or similar shaped track made by a turtle that emerged from the
sea but turned around and returned almost immediately without nesting. A type of false crawl.
HATCHERY. A man-made structure or enclosed (e.g., fenced) area constructed for the incubation of
eggs.
HATCHING. The process of leaving the egg after development is completed. See: emergence,
hatchling.
HATCHLING. A turtle that has recently emerged from the egg.
HEAD-STARTING. The experimental practice of raising hatchling turtles in captivity for the first
several weeks or months of life.
HERBIVORE. An animal, such as a green sea turtle, that feeds exclusively (or nearly so) on plants.
HYBRID. An offspring of a cross between two genetically dissimilar individuals. Such an individual will
exhibit a mixture of characteristics of both parents. The resemblance may be stronger to one parent
than the other, depending upon the influence of a variety of allelic interactions.
HYBRID INVIABILITY. The loss or reduction in vigor/fitness of hybrids.
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HYBRID STERILITY. The sterility of hybrids.
HYBRID VIGOR. The increased behavioral or biological success and fitness of hybrids. A synonym
for heterosis.
IMBRICATE. Overlapping, as the shingles of a roof or the scutes of the carapace of a hawksbill sea
turtle.
IMMATURE. An animal that has not reached sexual maturity. See also: juvenile.
IMPRINTING. The hypothetical process by which a hatchling turtle receives a lifelong impression of its
natal beach, or region, that enables it to recognize appropriate cues and relocate the beach, or region,
when it has become an adult.
INBREEDING. The mating of closely related individuals.
INCIDENTAL CATCH. The unintended capture of a species (such as a sea turtle) while fishing for
another species (such as shrimp). See also: bycatch.
INCUBATION. The process of development between egg-laying and hatching. In sea turtles,
incubation typically lasts 50-75 days depending on the ambient temperature and the species involved.
INFRAMARGINAL PORES. Pores located near the rear of the inframarginal scutes. These pores are
only found in the ridleys (Lepidochelys sp.). The pores conduct secretory products to the surface, but
the function of these products is unknown.
INGUINAL NOTCH. The notch behind the bridge and in front of the hind limb of a turtle.
INTERNESTING INTERVAL. The amount of time between successful nestings within a nesting
season. This period is usually 10-17 days for most species, but up to 28 days for ridleys.
INTERSEX. Abnormal individual which is intermediate between the two sexes in characteristics,
having all its cells of identical genetical composition. This may occur through failure of the sex
determining mechanism of genes, or through hormonal or other influences during development.
ITEROPARITY. The strategy (successfully used by sea turtles) of reproducing many times during a
lifetime.
JUVENILE. Not at full size or strength; a sexually immature sea turtle. Inasmuch as wild sea turtles
may take up to 50 years to reach sexual maturity, and that different species and even populations
within a species have different growth rates, the distinction between a juvenile and subadult is not well
defined. This distinction is further complicated in that there is little or no correlation between size and
age in sea turtles. See also: immature.
KARYOTYPE. The chromosome complement within the nucleus of a cell or organism, characterized
by the number, size, and configuration of the chromosomes, usually described during mitotic
metaphase of cell division. When these are described in the literature, the author has photographed a
cell in mitotic metaphase, cut out and lined up (usually in decreasing size) the outlines of the
chromosomes. The number and shape for these is species specific.
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KRAAL. An enclosure. With regard to sea turtles, a protected enclosure around nests on a beach.
See: hatchery. Traditionally, the term kraal means a pen in the water used for holding turtles for a few
days to several months before slaughter.
LEPIDOCHELYS KEMPII. The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle. Reportedly the turtle was named for Richard
M. Kemp, a fisherman interested in natural history who submitted the type specimen from Key West,
Florida. The species was allocated to the genus Lepidochelys (Fitzinger 1843) by Baur (1890) when it
was realized that Kemp’s ridley and the Indo-Pacific “olive” ridley, Lepidochelys olivacea, were
congeneric. Lepidochelys comes from a Greek root meaning “scaly”.
LEPIDOCHELYS OLIVACEA. Olive ridley sea turtle. The generic name Lepidochelys was introduced
by Fitzinger (1843); the specific name olivacea was first used by Eschscholtz (1829). Lepidochelys
comes from a Greek root meaning “scaly”. The common name may derive from the typically olive-
green color of the carapace.
LIVING TAGS. Grafts of tissue transferred from one part of the body to another. Contrasting
pigmented marks are created by the surgical exchange (referred to as autografting) of small pieces of
tissue between the (darker) carapace and (paler) plastron. The contrasting marks are retained and
increase in size as the animal grows. Living tags have occasionally been used to identify cohorts of
hatchlings or yearlings released in a given year
"LOST YEAR". The period of time (generally several years) between hatching and attainment of a
carapace length of 20-30 cm during which sea turtles are epipelagic and rarely encountered. The
“lost year” may encompass more than one year.
MANAGEMENT. The science of working with the characteristics and interactions of habitats, wild
animal populations, and humans to achieve specific goals.
MARGINALS. The scutes lying around the margins of the carapace. These more or less overlie the
peripheral bones.
MENDELIAN POPULATION. An interbreeding group of organisms sharing a common gene pool. See
also: population and gene pool.
MIGRATION. The directed movement of animals from one place to another. Sea turtle migrations
usually involve feeding and nesting activities and are particularly striking in the green and leatherback
sea turtles. The cues of orientation are still largely a mystery.
NATURAL SELECTION. The natural process by which organisms leave differentially more/less
offspring than other individuals because they possess certain inherited advantages/disadvantages.
Individuals of a species which possess certain inherited advantages which allow them to survive,
reproduce and produce more offspring (i.e., are more “fit”) than individuals without these advantages.
On the other hand, individuals which have inherited disadvantages die too early to leave offspring or
they are sterile or their offspring are less likely to survive than offspring of individuals with such
disadvantages. That which is an advantage during one time, may at a later time become a
disadvantage, because of changes in habitat, climate or other critical parameters. Species which have
developed as a result of natural selection and have later become extinct, in the natural course of
events, are examples of organisms whose advantages had transient value, being at first favored and
then disfavored by natural selection.
NEONATE. A recently hatched individual.
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NESTING. The process of depositing eggs in a nest cavity on a beach. This is often used
interchangeably with breeding.
NICHE. The ecological role of a species in its environment (defined by what it eats, who eats it, etc.).
NOCTURNAL. Occurring at night, such as with nesting by most species of sea turtle.
OLFACTION. Pertaining to the sense of smell. Olfaction may be involved in nest site selection,
imprinting, and/or migration.
OMNIVORE. An animal that feeds on both plant and animal matter.
ORIENTATION CIRCLE. A circular pattern in the track made by a sea turtle, especially the
leatherback, when the adult female is crawling up the beach to nest or moving down the beach
towards the sea, or by hatchlings as they crawl to the sea. Thought to be related to direction-finding
behavior.
OVIPAROUS. Offspring develop from fertilized eggs that hatch outside the mother.
OVIPOSITION. The process of depositing eggs.
PELAGIC. An organism, such as a young sea turtle, living in the open ocean.
PERIPHERAL BONES. The bones around the edge of a turtle's carapace that lie beneath the
marginal scutes.
PHALANGES. The elongate finger or toe bones in the flippers.
PHENOTYPE. The visible properties of an individual that are produced by the interaction of the
genotype and the environment. If a sea turtle carries characteristics in its genotype for several
variations of shell color pattern, the phenotype of the turtle is only the specific color pattern which the
turtle expresses. Contrasts with genotype.
PHYLOGENY. The evolutionary history or geneology of a group of organisms.
PIPPING. The process by which a hatchling breaks free from the egg shell.
PIVOTAL TEMPERATURE. The narrow range of temperature during the incubation of eggs at which
there is an abrupt change in sex ratio of hatchlings from nearly all males to all females. The sex ratio
at a particular temperature is a property of both the position and abruptness of the pivotal
temperature. Synonymous with “threshold temperature” of some authors.
PLASTRON. The ventral shell covering the underside of a turtle.
POPULATION. A group of organisms belonging to the same species that occupy a fairly well defined
locality and exhibit reproductive continuity from generation to generation. Genetic and ecological
interactions are generally more common between members of a population than between members of
different populations of the same species. See also: species.
PREDATOR. An animal that hunts and eats other animals. Sea turtles are important predators in the
ocean food web.
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PREFRONTAL SCALES. Thin, flattened, plate-like structures between the eyes that can be used to
help distinguish sea turtle species.
PROTEIN. A molecule composed of a chain of amino acids which possesses a characteristic three-
dimensional shape imposed by the sequence of its component amino acids.
RAFTING. Refers to passive drifting, usually on another object. This term is sometimes employed in
relation to green turtle hatchlings drifting in floating sargassum seaweed.
RANCHING. The process of raising sea turtles from eggs or hatchlings to some set market size for
commercial purposes. This is not a closed-cycle system and it continuously relies on wild populations
as a source for either eggs or hatchlings. In contrast, see farming.
RARE. Taxa with small world populations that, while neither endangered nor threatened, are at risk.
RELICT. A persistent remnant of an otherwise extinct flora or fauna or kind of organism.
REMIGRATION. The return of adult sea turtles to a particular breeding area in succeeding years.
Depending on the species involved, remigration usually occurs on a one (ridley), two, three, or four
(most other species) year cycle.
ROOKERY. The nesting location of populations of sea turtles. Rookery may refer to one species (for
example, the green turtle rookery at Tortuguero, Costa Rica) or to a general area of sea turtle nesting
(for example, the Guianas).
SCALE. Thin, flattened, plate-like stuctures that form the covering of certain animals, including turtles
and other reptiles.
SCUTES. The horny scales covering the bony carapace and plastron, except in the leatherback sea
turtle. The shape of the scutes does not mirror the shape of the underlying bones and they are named
differently from the bones. Both are of taxonomic importance.
SEA-FINDING BEHAVIOR. The procedure whereby hatchling sea turtles correctly orient towards the
sea upon emergence from the nest. The cues involved in this behavior are not well understood,
although light is clearly important.
SERRATED. Having a saw-toothed edge.
SEX RATIO. The number of males divided by the number of females (sometimes expressed in
percent).
SPECIATION. The process of species formation. See also: species.
SPECIES. A taxonomic term to describe a type of plant or animal which can interbreed successfully
with members of the same type; these are reproductively isolated from members of all other types (or
species). They may mate with similar organisms which are in the same genus and bear considerable
resemblance to them but either cannot produce offspring as a result, or the offspring are sterile, or the
offspring have distinct survival disadvantages. In some cases, they simply cannot mate because of
morphological, behavioral, or physiological differences. See also: taxon and taxonomy.
SPONGIVORE. An organism, such as the hawksbill sea turtle, that specializes in feeding on sponges.
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STOCK. A management term which refers to a harvestable portion of a species living within a certain
geographical area. A stock may include a portion of a biological population or several populations.
SUBADULT. A turtle approaching sexual maturity. See juvenile.
SUBSISTENCE CAPTURE. Capture of sea turtles by peoples living in close contact with the sea
when such capture is customary, traditional, and necessary for the sustenance of such individuals and
their families or immediate kin groups. Such taking is not considered a part of external market-
oriented commerce.
SUBSPECIES. A named geographic race or a set of populations of a species that share one or more
distinctive features and occupy a different geographic area from other subspecies. While breeding is
possible and in many cases occurs between members of different subspecies of the same species, it
is not as frequent as among members of a single subspecies. This is because of incomplete
reproductive isolation. The edges of subspecies ranges frequently overlap and show gradual shifting
from one subspecies to the other. The mixing which does not occur is prevented by their occupying
different geographic locations and slightly different niches. Some subspecies are at an early stage of
speciation. See also: species and population.
SURVIVAL RATE. The percentage of individuals surviving from one developmental stage, year class,
or life stage to the next stage, or succeeding period.
SWIMMING FRENZY. The period of heightened activity or rapid swimming of hatchlings out to sea
following the emergence from the nest. The swimming frenzy lasts up to several days depending on
species or population involved and may aid the hatchlings in clearing the surf and reaching
developmental habitat.
SYMPATRIC. Describing two or more populations of the same or different species that overlap in
geographic distribution. See also: population.
SYSTEMATICS. The study of evolutionary, including historic and genetic and phenotypic,
relationships among organisms.
TAG. A physical means of identifying sea turtles including by uniquely painted or colored marks,
tattoos, holes drilled in the carapace margin, flipper tags, coded wire tags, living tags, and PIT
(Passive Integrated Transponder) tags. Returns of tags by fishermen and others provide clues to the
movements of sea turtles.
TAGGING. The act of placing a tag on (or in) a turtle to aid in recognition when finding the animal on a
subsequent occasion.
TAKE. Means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect a particular
species or animal, or to attempt to engage in such activity.
TAXON (pl. taxa). A unit of classification; namely, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, or
species--includes subcategories of these, as well.
TAXONOMY. The science of classification, of describing, naming and assigning organisms to taxa.
Ideally, the classification is based upon systematic relationships, i.e., of inherited characteristics of
behavior, morphology, physiology, or tissue and blood chemistry. Usually a combination of
measurements and/or characteristics are used.
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TED. An acronym for Turtle Excluder Device. A structure fitted into a trawl specifically designed to
reduce incidental catch, specifically of sea turtles, and other non-target objects while maintaining
normal levels of shrimp catch. With few exceptions shrimp trawls are legally required to be fit with
TEDs while operating in US waters, a condition imposed in many other countries of the world as well.
TELEMETRY. The use of electronic equipment to monitor the movements of animals. With regard to
sea turtles, sonar, radio telemetry and satellite telemetry are most often used. Typically, an electronic
device which emits a signal at a characteristic frequency is attached to the turtle’s carapace..
TEMPERATURE PROFILE. Refers to the various temperatures encountered on a beach at different
times of the day. Temperature profiles of the sand may be considered in both horizontal and vertical
dimensions. The temperature profile may influence nest site selection and surely affects sex ratios
and duration of incubation of eggs.
THREATENED. Taxa likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. See also:
endangered.
TORTOISE SHELL. The scutes of the hawksbill turtle used in the manufacture of various items,
particularly in jewelry. Green turtle scutes are sometimes also used but are harder to work, thin and
generally do not have the same beauty of genuine tortoise shell. See also: bekko.
TUBERCLE. A small lump or knotlike projection.
VERTEBRALS. The scutes of the carapace which overlie the backbone of the turtle (absent in the
leatherback). May also be called central or neural scutes.
YEAR CLASS. All the animals in a population that hatched during a particular nesting season. The
sizes of a particular year class can vary substantially after a few years depending on quantity and
quality of food sources.
YEARLING. A turtle that has survived one year from the time of hatching. Depending on amount and
quality of food, and the species involved, yearlings may vary in size.
ZYGOTE. The diploid cell formed by the union of egg and sperm cells; also known as a fertilized egg.